Halo
by mel11
Summary: I guess this is an AU. Summer’s cousin come’s into town, what kind of trouble will unravel from her appearance? What kind of secrets is she hiding from Summer and the gang? SS RM
1. Celeste

Title: _Halo_

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the O.C. characters. They belong to Josh and Fox. I do own Celeste though, and the odd characters that will make appearances here and there.

Summary: I guess this is an AU. Summer's cousin come's into town, what kind of trouble will unravel from her appearance? What kind of secrets is she hiding from Summer and the gang? S/S R/M

AN: So I found the first couple pages saved on my computer in an old folder of mine ( I have many folders on my computer it angers my mom...lol). I thought I'd revamp the couple of pages, add to it and post it. If you guys like it I'll write more. I'm not exactly sure where in the show this takes place. All I know is it happens somewhere around when Ryan gets kicked out of Harbor in the third season. Oh! For your information, if you're at all curious, the title was inspired by Bethany Joy Lenz's song 'Halo'.

* * *

"Don't you look overly happy today." Seth Cohen mused looking up at his girlfriend.

"Yea Sum, you going to share whatever good news you have?" Marissa Cooper questioned as her best friend sat down across from her.

"My cousin is coming to stay at my place for the rest of the school year." Summer grinned.

"She or he going to be going to Harbor with us?" Seth questioned.

"As far as I know _she_ is." Summer replied.

"Which cousin?" Marissa asked Summer, as pictures of all of Summer's cousins played in her head.

"Celeste."

Marissa looked at Summer with a raised eyebrow, "The one who use to beat up boys in preschool?"

"No. When she was in kindergarten she beat up boys in grade two." Summer clarified, with a slight shrug.

"She beat up boys two years older than her?" Ryan asked Summer with a raised eyebrow.

"She stood up for herself and friends." Summer stated.

Ryan looked at Seth knowing full well they were thinking alike. Summer's cousin sounded tough... and kind of scary. If she had been beating up kids two years older then her when she was five, who knew what she was like now.

"When is she going to be coming, Sum?" Marissa questioned.

"Sometime today." Summer replied, taking a fry off of Seth's plate. "Her dad's driving her here from San Diego."

"Why don't you try now Summer?" A female voice said from the side.

The four friends turned to see a girl about sixteen, about five feet tall, with shoulder length brown hair standing there. She wore a pair of tattered jeans, and a pale yellow tank top. Sunglasses were covering her eyes.

"Celeste?" Summer questioned standing up.

The girl smiled, pushing her sunglasses up to reveal chocolate brown eyes, much like Summers. Grinning she said, "You better believe it cuz."

Summer jumped up from her seat, ran the little way to her cousin, and pulled Celeste into a tight hug. "I thought you weren't coming until later."

"My dad dropped me off earlier than expected, he was a little too eager to get rid of me. I got to your place a few minutes after you left, and got a lift here from your dad. So you going to introduce me to your friends?"

Taking her cousins hand, Summer pulled Celeste the small way to their table. "Celeste, this is my boyfriend Seth, and friends Marissa and Ryan. Marissa, Seth, Ryan, this is my cousin Celeste."

"Hey." Marissa smiled.

"Nice to meet you." Ryan said at the same time.

"Definitely not what I expected." Seth mused.

"What you were expecting something, or someone, else?" Celeste questioned. At Seth's nod Celeste smiled, "I see my cousins been telling stories about me again."

"Hey, all I mentioned was you beat up a kid in grade two, when you were in kindergarten." Summer smiled, sitting back down beside Seth. "It's not my fault they jumped to conclusions."

Celeste laughed, "Uh huh, I so believe you Sum. Now scooch over, I'm not that small anymore."

Seth and Summer moved further down their seat to make room for Celeste, who immediately sat down beside her cousin. A silence soon settled over the table, as they all sat there, trying to think of something to say.

"So Celeste-" Marissa started.

"Call me CeCe." Celeste cut her off.

"CeCe?" Summer questioned.

"A nickname that I've grown rather attached to." Celeste smiled. "One of my friends from the boarding school I was going to in England gave it to me."

"You went to boarding school in England?" Marissa questioned.

"Yea." Celeste sighed. "It was a school for the ill-mannered, as my mother so kindly put it. But it was basically a school where parents who couldn't handle their children sent them. I met some great people there."

"How did you go from boarding school in England, to Harbor here in Newport?" Ryan questioned. "If you don't mind me asking."

"My mother. She hated me not being around so after four years, she gets me to come home, which my father wasn't too happy about. He then convinced her to send me here to stay with Summer for awhile, not that I mind." Celeste replied. "Marissa you gonna finish those fries?"

"You can have them if you want," was Marissa's reply.

"Thank ya." Celeste smiled, pulling the plate towards herself, wanting the conversation to turn away from herself. "So what are the plans for today. If you guys don't mind me intruding on your plans that is."

"We don't exactly have plans yet." Summer stated.

"Great, that makes me feel like I'm not intruding." Celeste smiled. "As soon as you guys get tired of me, just tell me. I won't take it per-" Celeste was cut off by her cell phone ringing. Un-clipping the phone from her jeans, she looked at the call display, "Sorry guys I need to take this call."

"We'll be here when you get back." Summer smiled as her cousin got up, and headed towards the door, answering her cell at the same time.

"She seems cool." Seth mused.

* * *

"So your friends are cool." Celeste stated later that day, as Summer helped her get unpacked. "Except Ryan was kind of quiet."

"He is that way sometimes." Summer replied, going through one of Celeste's suitcases. Pulling out a picture frame she asked, "And who's this hottie in the picture with you?"

"That would be Tony." Celeste sighed, letting herself collapse on to the bed.

Sitting down beside her cousin Summer asked, "And who exactly would this Tony guy be?"

"The most arrogant asshole, but sweetest guy you'd ever meet." Celeste replied.

"You like him?"

"Not a bit." Celeste laughed. "There was a small attraction when I first met him, but after awhile it just disappeared. We were better friends."

"Friends with benefits." Summer joked.

"Summy, don't joke like that." Celeste said in a childish voice, while scrunching up her nose.

"Summy? You haven't called me that in years."

"And you know you missed it." Celeste smiled.

"Of course Celeste. I mean... CeCe. So how did you get that nickname anyway?"

"Mmm...that is kind of a long story." Celeste smiled to herself.

"We have all night." Summer stated.

"I thought you wanted to go to Seth's place when we finished unpacking."

"It can't be that long of a story." Summer mused.

Celeste sighed, "OK, so it's not that long of a story."

"Then, please, share."

"But, we're not done unpacking yet."

"Why are you trying to avoid the topic?"

"Why are you so persistent?"

"I just want to know, and once you tell me, we'll go over to Seth's place."

"But, like I said before, we haven't finished unpacking my stuff."

"We have tomorrow to do that."

Celeste sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you if you really want to know."

"I do."

Celeste lied back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "It's hared to be the new kid in a school. You've never really had to go thru that, but that's beyond the point. I was out of place, confused, lost in a way. It was on my first day that I had met Tony and his twin sister Candice. Me and Candice hit it off right away, we were the best of friends. Tony, he just had fun making fun of the two of us, but he was very protective. Tony and Candice called each other by their initials. Not their first and last initials, but their first and middle name. Tony was T.J. and Candice was C.P."

**Flashback**

"_You need a nickname Celeste." Candice stated._

"_What? Like you and your dear brother Tony?"_

_Candice ignored Celeste's comment. "The whole initial thing is the easiest way to give someone a nickname, 'cause sometimes their names just don't work."_

"_So you going to call me C.C. or C.W.?"_

_Candice smiled, "You'll be C.C., but it's gonna be spelt C-e-C-e, 'cause you're special like that."_

"_You better believe I'm special. With a big capital 'R'." _

"_I'm so glad we're friends, CeCe."_

"_Me too C.P. Me too."_

**End Flashback**

"Now that wasn't hard to tell now was it?" Summer smiled.

"No it wasn't." Celeste sighed, getting up. "So did you want to head over to your boyfriend's place?"

"Meet me at the car in five minutes." Was Summer's reply before she disappeared out the bedroom door.

* * *

"Cohen you're so going down!" Celeste laughed, her eyes glued to the t.v. screen.

"In your dreams CeCe." Seth replied.

"You sure about that?" Celeste smiled. "'Cause there goes your head."

"Rematch!" Seth exclaimed jumping up as the words 'Game Over' flashed across the screen.

"No, I'm good." Celeste replied, standing up and stretching.

"Oh, come on. It's only fair to have a rematch." Seth complained.

"You just don't want to admit that you've been beat." Ryan stated.

"Ah! I get it." Celeste grinned. "The undefeated has just been defeated. I don't think I'm going to play against you for a bit. I need to bask in the glory for a while."

"Come on, one more game." Seth pleaded.

"Even though it hurts me to see someone of the opposite sex groveling at my feet, my answer stands at no." Celeste replied.

"Please CeCe." Seth tried again.

"Just let me bask in victory for a little while longer." Celeste smiled.

"Fine." Seth mumbled.

"Aww poor baby's pouting." Celeste joked.

"You would be too if you got your butt kicked." Seth replied.

"Probably." Celeste sighed. "So what do you guys want to do now?"

"How 'bout a movie." Marissa suggested from where she sat beside Ryan.

"Sounds good to me." Summer agreed. "How about we watch 'The Notebook'."

"Sorry, we don't have that one." Seth replied quickly.

"Oh come on Cohen I know you guys have that one." Summer smiled. "Your mom bought it for herself. You even sat down with me and watched it awhile back."

Celeste looked at her cousin, "Please don't make me watch that Summer. I have seen that movie one too many times. Why don't we go with something funny? Like...'Without a Paddle' or 'Pirates of the Carribean'? I haven't seen that one in a long time. Or we could just, not watch a movie. It doesn't matter to me. I'll just stop rambling now."

As her cell phone started to ring Celeste sighed and looked at the call display, "Not again," she mumbled, before looking at the group of friends and saying "I'll be right back, gotta take this call."

Celeste headed for the doors leading outside to the pool as she answered her cell phone, "What do you want Candice?"

"We need to talk." Celeste's friend replied.

"And I've already told you, I'm sorry."

"That's not what I need to talk to you about now."

Celeste froze, she only now realized how upset Candice sounded, "What happened?"

"Tony...Tony isn't doing to good anymore."

"Wh-What do you mean? We only talked a few hours ago, and he was doing fine."

"They don't know if he's going to get better."

"I...I gotta go Candice." Celeste said quickly before closing her cell phone, and walking back into the house. Celeste put on a smile as she walked into the room everyone was.

"What's wrong Celeste?" Summer immediately asked.

"Nothing's wrong Summer. What makes you think something's wrong?"

Summer gave Celeste a pointed look and said, "I'm probably one of your closest cousins Celeste. I can tell you're hiding something."

"I'm not hiding anything Summer." Celeste replied.

"Don't lie to me Celeste." Summer stated.

"I'm not. So did you guys think of a movie you wanted to watch?" Celeste questioned changing the subject.

"We decided not to watch a movie, and just hang out." Marissa replied, leaning back into the couch, against her boyfriend.

"And so what exactly do you guys classify as 'hanging out'? I only ask, 'cause everyone has different ideas of hanging out." Celeste mused.

"Just sitting and talking." Summer clarified.

"Oh..." Celeste trailed off sitting down on the floor, "That's cool, I guess. So what do you guys want to talk about?"

"What was England like?" Marissa questioned.

"It was amazing." Celeste grinned. 'The people I met there, were wonderful. The school was supposedly for the ill-mannered, like I said before, but the people I met there were everything but ill-mannered. They taught me a lot, and helped me see the error of my ways."

"Like Tony?" Summer immediately asked, with a small grin.

Rolling her eyes Celeste replied, "Yes, like Tony."

"Oh... who's Tony?" Marissa smiled looking over at Celeste.

"A guy I met in Britain. Me and his sister, Candice, were best friends. I miss the two of them. The three of us hung out quite a bit. I actually shared a room with Candice." Celeste smiled to herself, remembering the good times Candice, Tony, and herself had shared. She wished that she could go back to those days. That's all she wanted to do.

"Celeste you ok?" Summer questioned, her worry for her cousin evident in her voice.

"I'm fine, Sum, just getting tired." Celeste replied. "It's been a long day. You think we can head back to your place? My energy is finally draining."

"No problem," Summer replied standing up.

"Catch all of you guys later." Celeste smiled, before heading out of the house ahead of her cousin.

Summer gave Seth a quick kiss, "I'll call you later Cohen."

* * *

Celeste lay on her side, on her bed. She'd been staring at the wall since Summer and herself had gotten home. As soon as they had walked in the door Celeste had said goodnight and headed up to her room. That was two hours ago.

Everything seemed to be catching up to her now. Hurting her closest friends, having to leave England, pissing off her father, upsetting her mother, and lying to her cousin. Celeste didn't know how long she could take it anymore. Her father didn't want her to let Summer and her uncle know what had happened in England. It was probably because her father was afraid of his brother-in-law finding out.

Rolling onto her back Celeste stared at the ceiling. How was she going to keep up this act? She didn't know how much longer she could lie to her cousin, especially if Candice kept calling. If Candice called and gave her worse news, Celeste didn't know what she'd do.

Celeste closed her eyes, and tried to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. She still had to unpack a few things, and go shopping for new school stuff. Monday she'd finally be going to school with Summer. How she had gotten into Harbor, she wasn't exactly sure. With her 'permanent record' she was surprised any prestige school would take her. Then again her father had money, lots of money. He probably payed them to let her in. That wouldn't surprise her at all.

* * *

"Ryan?" Seth started, as he walked into the pool house. "You awake?"

"Yea." Ryan mumbled, as he sat up.

"Good." Seth stated, sitting on the edge of Ryan's bed. "What do you think of Celeste?"

"You came to ask me this at..." Ryan looked over at the clock, "... midnight?"

"I couldn't fall asleep," Seth replied. "But what do you think about her?"

"Reminds me of Summer in a way." Ryan shrugged.

"Really?" Seth raised an eyebrow. "I don't see it. But I think she's hiding something. Her whole attitude changed after her cell phone rang tonight. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but decided against it."

"She just misses her friends." Ryan shrugged.

"But I don't think that's it." Seth replied. "I think there's more to it then that. And who's parents let their kid come home, and then just send them away again?"

"Some parents are just like that I guess." Ryan shrugged again. "I don't know. Why are you so interested in Summer's cousin anyway?"

"It's Summer's cousin." Was all Seth said in reply.

"Uh huh..." Ryan trailed off. "Do you think you could possibly let me get some sleep?"

"Oh, right." Seth stood up, "See ya in the morning."

Ryan shook his head as he watched Seth leave the pool house. Lying back down on his bed, he found himself thinking about the things that had taken place in the last few months. Trey, his older brother, almost dying. Marissa getting kicked out of Harbor because of the 'Dean of Discipline'. He himself getting kicked out because of the Dean. Then there was Marissa's new friends, Johnny and Chili. Ryan sighed, and here he was getting tutored.

He felt like he was letting the Cohens' down. They had taken him in, and given him a second chance. No. They'd given him many chances. They took him in after Sandy and himself met. They took him back after the whole Theresa incident. If they really wanted to they could of kicked him out, but they didn't.

Ryan had to make the Cohens' proud. They'd become his family, and he was thankful for it. Without them, who knew where he'd be. Most likely on the streets.

* * *

Celeste rolled over, only to land on the floor. "Oww," she groaned sitting up. She sat there for a few seconds, not bothering to get up. What time was it? When Celeste was about to get up, she heard a knock on the door. "Yea?"

"You ok in there?" she heard her Uncle Neil's voice ask on the other side.

"I'm fine." Celeste replied, "Just rolled out of bed."

"OK, breakfast is ready downstairs."

"I'll be down in a minutes."

Celeste sighed and looked around the room, she almost felt out of place. She was still use to waking up in a small room with two beds, two desks, two dressers, a closet, and a small bathroom. Celeste was use to waking up to her Candice blaring her music at seven in the morning-yes on weekends too-to get her up.

Standing up Celeste threw her blanket back onto the bed and looked in the mirror hanging above the bed. She looked like crap. Shaking her head, she threw her brown hair up into a clip, and put on a small zip up coat. She was surprisingly cold.

Making her way down the stairs, the scent of chocolate chip pancakes caught her nose. A grin formed on her face, that was her favorite. Walking into the kitchen she looked at her uncle, "Did you cook for little ol' me?"

"No," Neil laughed, "Summer did."

Celeste turned to her cousin, and then looked at Neil "Summy? Summy cooked? Should I be scared?"

"She's an amazing little chef." Neil replied, with another laugh.

"I will be the judge of that." Celeste grinned, sitting down at the table.

As Summer put a plate down in front of Celeste, and sat down with her own, Neil looked at his watch. "I hate to do this, but I have to get to work."

"You going to be home for dinner?" Celeste questioned tilting her head to the side. "I was hoping I could cook dinner tonight."

"I should be home." Neil smiled.

"Good."

Standing up Neil said, "The two of you stay out of trouble."

"Of course dad." Summer smiled at her father.

"You know me," Celeste started, "I'm a little angel."

Neil shook his head, and gave Celeste a quick hug before kissing Summer on top of the end. "I'll call you guys if I'm not going to make it home for dinner."

The two cousins watched as Dr. Neil Roberts disappeared out of the kitchen. Celeste turned to her cousin and asked, "So what kind of trouble are we going to get into today?"

"How much trouble can we possibly get into shopping?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised what I can do." Celeste joked. "No, what are we going to do today? We just gonna go shopping and unpack my stuff, or are we going to go hang at your boyfriends place?"

"All of the above?"

"I see..." Celeste trailed off, finally deciding to try her cousins cooking. "Hey, this is actually pretty good."

"See," Summer grinned in triumph, "I can cook."

"And tonight I'll show you how talented I am in the kitchen."

"What are you going to make for dinner."

"That's for me to know, and you to find out."

* * *

AN: If you got to here, give yourself a pat on the back. I'm glad you got threw that... sad attempt of a start for an O.C. fic. Tell me what you thought about it, share your ideas, I'm almost open to anything..lol. I've got quite the plot twists planned. 


	2. Phone Calls and Emails

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the O.C. characters. They belong to Josh and Fox. I do own Celeste though, and the odd characters that will make appearances here and there. Don't own the songs mentioned or used in this chapter.

AN: I found that I'm going to have to play around with the Season Three storyline a bit, well a lot, to have this go the way I want... so... Jimmy left, Julie hasn't lost the house yet, Charlotte is already gone. The 'Dean of Discipline' is still around. That should be it for now...

* * *

After helping clean up the kitchen, Celeste headed towards her room. Once she was inside she turned on her music, and quickly changed out of her pajamas and into a pair of dark blue jeans and a pale yellow tank top. Celeste pulled the ponytail out of her hair, and let her brown hair fall around her shoulders. Turning her music up the song changed and one of her favorite songs began to play. 

"I never promised you a ray of light. I never promised there'd be sunshine everyday. I gave you everything I have. The good. The bad. Why do you put me on a pedestal? I'm so up high that I can't see the ground below." Celeste sang along, as tears began to sting her eyes. She quickly changed the song. No, she couldn't listen to it, not anymore. It brought back to many memories. The song reminded her to much of who she was trying so hard not to be anymore. It surprised her how easily a song she loved, could bring tears.

A knock on the door pulled Celeste out of her memories. "Yea?"

"Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all Summy." Celeste replied turning off her music.

The door opened and Celeste smiled at her cousin as she came into the room. "I just got off the phone with Marissa. The gangs meeting at the diner. Marissa's bring a couple of her friends from Newport Union."

"I thought she went to Harbor with you."

"She use to. After an incident this summer and at the beginning of the year, her and Ryan were kind of kicked out."

"Let me guess, they got kicked out for really stupid reasons?"

"Basically..." Summer trailed off, not really wanting to go over the reasons that got her best friend and Ryan kicked out of Harbor.

"So these friends of Marissa's, guys or girls?"

"Guys."

"Oh really. They cute?"

"You could say that." Summer smiled at Celeste.

"I see, you're not going to say what you think, 'cause you got a boyfriend."

"Exactly."

Celeste shook her head, "So we gonna go, or what?"

"I was waiting on you." Summer laughed.

Picking her sunglasses up off of her night stand Celeste smiled, "Mind if we walk? I want some fresh air, and yesterday I was cramped up in the car most of the time."

"Not at all, we'll just be running a little late." Summer shrugged as they left the room.

* * *

"About time the two of you got here." Marissa said as Summer and Celeste made their way to the booth everyone was sitting at. 

Summer slid in to sit beside her boyfriend and looked at Marissa, "It's all Celeste's fault."

"Yea, ok, blame the cousin." Celeste said rolling her eyes, pulling a chair over to the table. Turning it around to lean forward on the back of the chair she added, "It's not like you told me that it was going to take that long to walk here. Considering the first time I came here I got a ride, it's kind of hard to tell how long it's going to take to walk."

"You could of asked," Summer shrugged.

Celeste rolled her eyes again and looked at Marissa, "So you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Of course," Marissa replied. "Celeste, Johnny and Chili. Johnny and Chilli this is Celeste, Summer's cousin."

"Nice to meet the two of you," Celeste smiled.

"You too." The two of them replied.

Turning to Chili Celeste mused, "Chili, that's an odd name. Is it a nickname or something?

"My real name's Dennis," Chili shrugged.

"I see..." Celeste trailed off.

Conversation soon began to pick up around the table, Celeste found herself zoning them out. "Celeste." She suddenly heard Ryan's voice.

"Yea, what?"

"You kinda zoned out there." Summer mused. "Your cell phone's ringing."

"Oh..." Celeste trailed off and looked at her cell phone sitting in front of her. '_Candice's cell_' the call display read. "I don't think I'm going to answer it this time," she said out loud.

Summer looked over at Celeste's cell phone, "But isn't that your friend's name?"

"Yea..." Celeste trailed off, "I just... don't really want to answer my phone right now."

"Does this have anything to do with the call you got yesterday?" Summer questioned as the cell phone stopped ringing.

"No," Celeste replied turning away and looking at Johnny and Chili. "So you guys go to Newport Union with Marissa right?"

"Yea," Chili smiled at Celeste.

"What's it like there?" Celeste questioned tilting her head to the side. "Public school I mean. The last time I was in public school was when I was six...I think."

Johnny was about to answer when Celeste's phone started ringing once agin. But the name that came up on call display made her freeze, '_Steve's cell_'. Tilting her head to the side she said, "Huh," before picking up her cell phone. She flipped the cell phone open and asked, "What can I do for you Stevie?"

"Don't call me that." The voice on the other end replied.

"You know you love the nickname," Celeste stated. "But look I can't really talk I'm with my cousin and her friends. So make it fast."

"You've never been one for patience." Steve mused.

"Just get to the point of your call Stevie." Celeste laughed.

"Is there anyway you can get back here?"

The smile that had been on Celeste's face disappeared. "Our lovely friend put you up this call didn't she?"

"She's your friend, not mine. Tony's my friend. So do you think you'll be able to get back here anytime soon? Preferably in the next few days?"

"No Stevie. I... I can't. Not for awhile."

"But CeCe..." Steve's voice held such a pleading tone.

"No, that doesn't work. Not anymore. I gotta go. I'll talk to you later." Celeste snapped her cell phone shut and looked at the group. "So...um...anyone hungry?"

"Who was that?" Summer questioned.

"A friend, and don't' give me that look Summer."

"I'm not giving you any look Celeste." Summer stated.

Celeste rolled her eyes and stood up, "Anyone else hungry? I think I'm gonna go get something. I'll be right back."

As Celeste turned to head to the counter, Chili jumped and said, "I'll come with you."

Celeste turned and smiled at him, "Kay."

Summer watched her cousin walk away with Chili. Something was up. Celeste was hiding something, and Summer was determined to find out what it was. Summer knew her cousin well. She knew when Celeste was hiding something from her. She felt Seth poke her. Looking at her boyfriend, Summer asked, "What'd you do that for?"

"To get your attention." Seth stated.

"I got some nachos." Celeste stated as Chili and herself came up to the table. "Didn't really know what's good around here, and Chili wasn't any help in telling me."

"Nachos are fine." Marissa smiled at Celeste.

"Good." Celeste said taking a seat. "So I was thinking all of you should come over for dinner tonight. I volunteered to make it, and the only thing I'm good at making is always too much for only three people to eat."

"Sounds like fun." Chili stated.

"I thought so." Celeste laughed. Glancing at the others she asked, "So any objections to dinner at Summer's place?"

"It's your place now too." Summer glanced at her cousin.

"Kay. So any objections to dinner at _my_ place?"

* * *

Celeste's hair was thrown up in a ponytail, as she worked around the kitchen. The others were all in the living room, watching some type of movie, Celeste hadn't bothered to ask. She preferred music over movies, which was why she had brought her small stereo into the kitchen. Right now she was listening to Natasha Bedingfield's song, '_I Bruise Easily_' as she mixed a bunch of things together. The one thing she had learnt from her mother, how to cook. Ok, so she only knew how to cook one thing, but that didn't matter to her. It was her mother's recipe that Celeste had imprinted on her memory. It was only there because the day her mother had taught her it was one of few good memories Celeste had of home. 

Her uncle Neil and cousin Summer had no clue about the things that went on at her home. They didn't know her mother had cut herself off from the outside world. They didn't know the only reason Celeste was here was because she had left the boarding school- for more then one reason- and her father didn't want her at home.

Her father. He was an asshole, a complete and utter asshole. When Celeste had been a kid, he was her favorite person, aside from her mother. But as she got older he seemed to distance himself from her, and it hurt. It hurt her enough to cause her to rebel against him, which caused him to send her to the boarding school.

Shaking her head Celeste went back to cooking. There was no need to reflect on the past, she had to look towards her future. Celeste thought about it for a moment, her future didn't really seem that bright at the moment. Maybe that's why she was such a 'live by the moment' type of person. Her friends back in England had taught her that. People always took their lives for granted. '_To live your life to the fullest you have to live each day like it's your last day on earth_.' That was Tony's motto.

"Need any help in here?" Celeste heard a male voice ask from behind her.

Turning she saw Ryan standing in the door way, "No. I've got everything under control. Plus there's no way I'd let anyone know the secret ingredients, my mom would kill me."

"And what exactly are you making?"

"One of the easiest things in the world to make.." Celeste paused. "Spaghetti. Except I'm making my mom's famous spaghetti sauce. It takes a couple hours to make though."

"I take it your mom's a good cook then."

"She has her weak points. She can make these really good, big, elegant meals. But as soon as you ask her to make a frozen dinner, she freezes. My mom has always preferred to spend hours in the kitchen instead of a few minutes. You can tell when she has a bad day, 'cause that's when you get the big dinners." Celeste shook her head and looked at Ryan, "You should head back into the living room, so that I can add the secret ingredients."

Celeste watched as Ryan left the kitchen. It was time to get to work. Her uncle was going to be back from work in an hour or so, meaning she had to get cracking with dinner.

* * *

"This is awesome." Seth said with a mouthful of spaghetti. 

Summer hit her boyfriend on the arm, "Don't talk with your mouthful Cohen."

Seth swallowed his food, "Sorry."

Celeste laughed to herself. She could tell her cousin really liked Seth, mainly by the way she looked at him. "So Celeste, how's your mom doing?" Celeste heard her uncle question.

"She's doing good." Celeste replied looking up at her uncle. It wasn't a complete lie. Her mother was doing better then usual. Over the past few years Celeste had watched her mother go from a carefree, lively woman to someone who only got out of bed to eat something and go to the bathroom. What had changed her mother so much, Celeste was still unsure about. Celeste had already decided that, since Neil and Summer didn't already know, she wasn't going to tell them about what her mom was like at the moment. She wanted them to think that everything was still ok at her place. "She wanted to drive up here with me and my dad and stay a couple days to make sure I was settled in, but it was a no go. She had to work and my dad didn't have time to hang around."

"That's too bad." her uncle replied.

"Yea." Celeste sighed, looking down at her plate.

"Johnny, Chili, I haven't seen the two of you around here before. Where do you boys go to school?"

"They go to school with me Dr. Roberts." Marissa replied for them.

"Speaking of school, I need to get a few things for it still." Celeste jumped in. "Do you think you can drive me to the mall tomorrow great uncle of mine?"

"If you're willing to leave early, I don't see why not."

"Why would I have to leave early? And how early are we talking about here?"

"I have a surgery at eight tomorrow."

"Oh," Celeste bit her lip, "Guess I don't need you to drive me there then."

"Seth can drive you and me." Summer offered her boyfriend.

"Great..." Seth trailed off.

Summer hit Seth on the arm, "Don't sound so upset. It'll be fun."

* * *

Celeste shot up, her breathing labored. Where the hell was she? Glancing around the dark room, her memory came back to her. She was at her uncle Neil's place in Newport. Last night she had made dinner, and had Summer's friends come over. She was ok, she was safe. Her breathing returned to normal as she rubbed her forehead. Celeste hated it when she had dreams like the one she had just had. She hated the dreams that felt so horribly real. 

Lying back down on her bed, Celeste looked over at the clock. _3:02 a.m. _The glowing red numbers stared back at her. Celeste closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep. She couldn't let her dream get to her. She couldn't let seeing everyone she loved die in a dream get to her. She found her attempt to fall asleep again was useless. The sounds all around were keeping her up now. The wind outside. The ticking of the clock on her wall. The hum of her laptop in her bag. Her laptop. She completely forgot she had that. Celeste knew that as soon as she looked at it she was going to have many e-mails. Most of which she knew she wasn't going to want to open.

Celeste willed herself to fall asleep. She felt tired but she couldn't fall back asleep, and it was driving her insane. Opening her eyes, Celeste looked at the night stand beside her bed. She was sure her mp3 player was somewhere around. Celeste spotted it on the floor by the night stand. She picked it up off the ground, and put the earphones in her ears. Quickly searching through the songs, Celeste picked one and pressed play. Music always seemed to help her fall asleep. The beat of the music filled her ears, and Celeste found her eyes slowly closing.

* * *

Silence. That's what Summer woke up to the next morning. She thought that she would hear her cousin moving about or something. Summer sat up in bed and stretched. The sun beamed through her window, warming her up as it hit her. Today was going to be a good day. 

Summer was about to get out of her bed, when the phone rang. Reaching over Summer grabbed the cordless from her night stand. "Hello?"

"Hey Summer."

"Cohen," Summer smiled to herself. "I miss you."

"Miss you too."

"So you ready to spend the day shopping with me and Celeste?"

"About that..."

"Don't think about skipping out buddy. You're our ride there and home."

"Why don't I just drop you off and pick you up?"

"No, you're coming with us."

"But..."

"No."

"Can I bring Ryan?"

"Sure, I'll call Marissa and see if she wants to come with us."

"Okay. Love you Summer."

"Love you too, Seth."

Summer hit the end button to the cordless. Yawning she dialed Marissa's home number and hit talk. Summer patiently waited for Marissa or Julie to answer, but all she got was the answering machine. Hitting end again Summer dialed Marissa's cell phone number. This attempt also failed, all she got was Marissa's voice mail. '_Might as well leave a message,_' Summer thought to herself.

"Hey Coop, it's Summer. We're all heading to the mall. Call my cell as soon as you get this message." Summer hit the end button once again and put the phone back down. Where was Marissa? Summer was usually able to get a hold of her. Sighing she got out of bed, and left her room, heading across the hall to the bathroom, running into Celeste who was leaving the bathroom.

"I thought you were still sleeping." Summer mused.

"No, I've been up for like two hours." Celeste laughed, "I had a shower and ate some cereal. I've been waiting for you to get up."

"You could have woken me up." Summer replied.

"I'm not that mean." Celeste smiled. "So when are we going?"

"In a while."

"That means I have some time to check some e-mails."

Summer nodded, "I'll get you when I'm ready to head out."

"Sounds good to me." Celeste replied heading towards her room.

Summer watched her cousin leave, before heading into the bathroom. Today was going to be interesting. Celeste was an impulse shopper, which always had proved to be interesting. When they were kids Celeste had always had such a random collection of things she'd bought. To say the least it entertained Summer.

* * *

Celeste lay on her stomach on her bed. She typed away furiously on her laptop. Fifty-two e-mails. Twenty of which were junk mail. Another twenty were forwards. Leaving twelve actual e-mails. After deleting the forty unimportant e-mails, she skimmed over the names who sent her the twelve e-mails. _Candice, Steve, Anna, Steve, Steve, Candice, Tiffany, Candice, Eric, Gavin, Faith, Rose, Candice, Steve, Tony._ Celeste froze. Tony? But Tony... he couldn't of possibly sent her an e-mail. Celeste checked the date the e-mail was sent. It was sent three weeks ago. Why hadn't she seen the e-mail before? She always checked her e-mails. Pretty much every day. Sometimes she checked it three times a day. All her other e-mails had been sent in the past two days. The majority of them from Candice and Steve, they just wouldn't leave her alone it seemed. 

Biting her lip Celeste pondered whether or not to open the e-mail from Tony. She was afraid of what it could say, and why she hadn't seen it before. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Celeste clicked on the e-mail. When the e-mail opened Celeste's eyes glazed over, she didn't know if she could read the e-mail. She'd been so mean to Tony, so horrible to him. Celeste rubbed at her eyes and focused on the words, she had to know what it said.

_To: celestewalker89 _

_From: tjhotboy _

_CeCe...Celeste...I'm sorry. I figured since you won't listen to me in the hallways, you won't answer my calls, and you won't listen to Candice, I'd send you an e-mail. I made a mistake and I know that. I made promises and I broke them. I did things that I wouldn't even forgive myself for. But, please, listen to me and believe me when I say I'm sorry.  
__Remember the first day we met? I "accidently" tripped you in the hallway, and you later "accidently" spilt your bloody coffee on me. We had a hate/hate relationship, and then things changed. We have my sister to thank for that. You can't say you weren't happy about how things turned out between you and me then. You can't say you didn't thank my sister everyday.  
__I know you probably can't forgive me for what I've done, what I've said. But you were just as bad. You did things that were worse as a means of payback. So why don't we say we're even? Why don't' you give me a second chance CeCe? Please. I still care about you a lot. If you don't ignore this e-mail, and read it, write me back. Call me._

Celeste chocked back a sob, as she quickly sat up, closing her laptop. Why hadn't she seen that e-mail before? Why couldn't she have had the chance to reply? She swapped at the tears escaping her eyes. She had to stop crying before Summer came ro say she was ready to go. Celeste didn't want her cousin to see her like this. She didn't want to answer the questions Summer would probably ask. Closing her eyes Celeste took a few deep breaths trying to calm herself down.

"Celeste, I'm ready to go! And Seth will be here in a minute." Celeste heard her cousin call from outside her door.

"Kay. I'll be out in a few minutes." Celeste replied, getting off of her bed. She looked at her small mirror and fixed her hair. At least her eyes weren't red and puffy from the tears.

Sighing Celeste picked her bag up off of the floor and left her room. Celeste looked at Summer and smiled, "So you ready to spend some money?"

Summer returned her cousins smile and replied, "I'm always ready to spend money. You still an impulse shopper?"

"I was never an impulse shopper." Celeste replied. "I just bought, and still buy, things I think I could, and can, use."

"Like the Winnie-the-Pooh toaster?"

"That was just cute, and I thought it would be cool to have." Celeste shrugged.

"Uh huh. What about the chocolate maker? Or the remote control motorcycle."

"Ok the chocolate maker came in handy, and the remote control motorcycle was entertaining."

Summer shook her head, "I can give you a longer list."

"No that's ok." Celeste replied. "I still say I'm not an impulse shopper."

"We'll see about that." Summer laughed.

The sound of a car horn outside made Celeste grin. "Look's like our ride's here."

The two cousins headed outside and Summer locked the door behind them. "I couldn't get a hold of Marissa." Summer stated as the two got into the vehicle. "I left her a message on her cell, it looks like it might just be the four of us today."

"Well this trip to the mall shall prove to be quite interesting." Celeste mused out loud.

* * *

AN: Thank you for all the reviews you guys. I'm glad you're liking it so far. Don't forget to leave a review for this chapter! I'm open to most ideas, you give me one and I'll make sure I try to fit it in. 


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